In the eight-song first set, it played newer songs, with several from the “Nomad Series” discs it released in the past few years, much of the music in an intriguing neo-psychedelic style, all distorted guitar and atmospheric sonics.

And for the most part, they were good. Singer Margo Timmins’ voice matched the mood: weary and bleary on “Late Night Radio”; slow and smoky on the echo-y, dirge-like “I Cannot Sit Sadly By Your Side.”

Mike Timmins on guitar, with sister Margo

And appropriately rugged on the wonderfully chosen opener “F—k I Hate The Cold.” (The crowd of about 400 apparently felt the same; with temperatures outside hovering around zero, it cheered the song.)

But much of that part of the show highlighted the band. “Demons,” for example, featured ringing, chiming guitars with rumbling drums behind them; multi-instrumentalist Jeff Bird scrubbing the strings of his mandolin as Timmins’ voice floated high above it all.

A cover of Vic Chestnutt’s “Supernatural” sounded supernatural -- Timmins’ voice as cooly distorted and disoriented as the music.

The best was “Unanswered Letter,” played as ominous blues rock akin to Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks” with Timmins singing in a babydoll drawl. It was the song on which the four-person band most showed its chops, especially Bird’s hot harmonica.

The weakest songs closed the first set. It wasn’t that a pair of tunes from the 2013 concept album “The Kennedy Suite” (“We finally released a rock opera,” Timmins said. “We were destined to”) were bad – in fact, they were musically fine. The second, the quiet and studied “Take Heart,” had nice instrumentation, with simple guitar and mandolin

But as often the case with such formalized music, the song came off as forced.

But as good as the first set was, the 12-song second -- which leaned more on the band’s better-known work – was better

It started on a high point, with the band playing its 1989 hit cover of Lou Reed’s “Sweet Jane,” the crowd cheering with recognition on the cacophonic start. The band followed that with another of the night’s best, “A Common Disaster,” on which Timmins sang her most direct – mean and dirty.

And it followed that with the nice, pure country shuffle of “Bea’s Song,” Timmins’ singing sweet and Jones’ harmonica mournful.

The very good “Working on a Building” showed that not just the newer songs were open to neo-psychedelic music, as Jones’s harmonica howled and Mike Timmins’s guitar soared sonically. In fact, Margo Timmons left the stage for three minutes of the 11-minute song to let the band play. When she sang, it often was nearly whispered.

“Hunted” was in the same vein, Jones playing dynamic, blazing mandolin.

The direct opposite musically were “Horse in the Country” and “Five-Room Love Story,” both – wistful and nostalgic folk-country looks at aging that were both strong and appropriate for the band, which is nearing 30 years together.

Margo Timmons offered some of her best singing on “Shining Moon” – her voice taking on a honey-blues delivery -- and “Good Friday,” on which it was clear and high.

The main part of the set closed with the band’s 1989 hit “Misguided Angel,” and the encore opened with “I Don’t Get It.” Both of those are from Cowboy Junkies’ breakthrough album, 1988’s platinum “The Trinity Session.” The night closed with Neil Young’s “Don’t Let It Bring You Down.”

That doesn’t mean Cowboy Junkies’ new material isn’t good. In fact, for a 1990s band to be delivering new material at such a high level – and playing it even better – is encouraging, indeed.

It just says that Cowboy Junkies set a pretty high standard early in its career – one that continues to hold up well.

JOHN J. MOSER has been around long enough to have seen the original Ramones in a small club in New Jersey, U2 from the fourth row of a theater and Bob Dylan's born-again tours. But he also has the number for All-American Rejects' Nick Wheeler on his cell phone, wrote the first story ever done on Jack's Mannequin and hung out in Wiz Khalifa's hotel room.

OTHER CONTRIBUTORS

JODI DUCKETT: As The Morning Call's assistant features editor responsible for entertainment, she spends a lot of time surveying the music landscape and sizing up the Valley's festivals and club scene. She's no expert, but enjoys it all — especially artists who resonated in her younger years, such as Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, Tracy Chapman, Santana and Joni Mitchell.

KATHY LAUER-WILLIAMS enjoys all types of music, from roots rock and folk to classical and opera. Music has been a constant backdrop to her life since she first sat on the steps listening to her mother’s Broadway LPs when she was 2. Since becoming a mother herself, she has become well-versed on the growing genre of kindie rock and, with her son in tow, can boast she has seen a majority of the current kid’s performers from Dan Zanes to They Might Be Giants.

STEPHANIE SIGAFOOS: A Jersey native raised in Northeast PA, she was reared in a house littered with 8-tracks, 45s and cassette tapes of The Beatles, Elvis, Meatloaf and Billy Joel. She also grew up on the sounds of Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks and Tim McGraw and can be found traversing the countryside in search of the sounds of a steel guitar. A fan of today's 'new country,' she digs mainstream/country-pop crossovers like Lady Antebellum and Sugarland and other artists that illustrate the genre's diversity.